Victim or Carrier? The lethal mutation affecting Americans nationwide.

Have you ever heard of Hemochromatosis? Hemachromatosis is a disorder that causes the body to absorb a surfeit of iron from the food that you eat. Since the human body has no other way of disposing of the extra iron it sends it to other organs in the body, such as in cells of the liver, pancreas and heart. You might wonder why I have such a sudden interest in an uncommon genetic mutation. Well, a few months back my grandmother was diagnosed with the disease causing all of my mother's family to get tested, including myself. You can be walking around clueless and secretly be a carrier or affected by this mutation. There are two forms of Hemochromatosis, primary and secondary.

Primary Hemochromatosis is the more common form of the disease. The genes ordinarily involved in the primary form are called HFE genes. These malfunctioning genes if inherited one copy from each parent, put you at risk for iron overload and symptoms can start to appear. However, if you inherit one faulty HFE gene and one normal HFE gene, you can be considered a "carrier" resulting in a very unlikely chance of suffering from the gene in later years. The faulty gene can also be passed on to the carriers' offspring. If both parents are carriers of the faulty genes, there is a 1/4 chance both of the faulty genes will be inherited.

Secondary Hemochromatosis can cause a patient to suffer from anemias such as Thalassemia and Aplastic anemia, or chronic liver disease. Causes of the disease can stem from iron intake, long-term kidney dialysis, and blood transfusion. A family history of these certain diseases and conditions puts you at an even higher risk.

When suffering with Hemochromatosis it is important you take action to stop it from continuing. You receive treatments to help prevent further organ damage and remove excess iron from the body. This procedure is called Phlebotomy. During this process one half liter of blood is removed from the body each week, until the body starts working correctly again. This process can take many months and even up to years to accomplish fully preventing it obscene iron levels.

Hemochromatosis is the most common genetic disease in the United States. Hemochromatosis is commonly found in Caucasians. In African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians the disease isn't as common. Hemochromatosis is more common in men than in women. Older people are more likely to develop the disease than younger people. Signs and symptoms usually don't occur in men until they're 40 to 60 years old. In women, signs and symptoms usually don't occur until after the age of 50. It is very unlikely that young children develop and are affected by hemochromatosis.

Other names for Hemochromatosis include: